Imagine you’re young and strolling through a university campus, wishing you could randomly chat with someone much older. Perhaps you’re looking for a bit of wisdom. Or maybe you simply wish to talk to a Baby Boomer, like a parent or grandparent. If you’re on the Boston University campus near Pavement Coffeehouse, this wish could become a reality. The folks at Matter Neuroscience have created another social experiment in which they set up what look like payphones in two locations. One, outside a building on the BU campus, says “Call a Boomer.” The other is in the game room of a senior housing complex in Reno, Nevada. That one has a sign suggesting someone “Call a Zoomer.” The hope? That two generations can connect, have a lovely conversation, and spark a little dopamine in their day. View this post on Instagram Loneliness matters On the Matter Neuroscience Instagram page, they share the statistic that younger and older adults often suffer from loneliness: “Younger adults and older adults tend to experience the highest levels of loneliness of any age group, so the goal of this project is to inspire generational connection through meaningful conversations, despite differences in age, lifestyle, or politics.” They report that statistically, “over a third of people over 65 report being lonely. And over half of the students in college report being lonely.” They go on to note that loneliness can be more detrimental to one’s health than lack of exercise or even smoking cigarettes. Loneliness demographics in America. Photo credit: Matter Neuroscience A new idea Upworthy spoke with Calla Kessler, a social strategist at Matter Neuroscience, who explained the process: “The boomer/zoomer payphones are the second iteration of our Party Line experiment, which originally included in San Francisco and Abilene, Texas, encouraging Democrats and Republicans to find common ground and walk away with a positive interaction.” Kessler is referring to a project that Upworthy covered a little over a month ago. In that project, the team set up two makeshift “payphones” in Texas and California. The idea was for people on the left and right sides of the political aisle to connect without all the extraneous noise. Ben Goldhirsh, one of the co-founders of Matter Neuroscience (alongside neuroscientist Axel Bouchon), reported that after reviewing hours of footage, people were looking to connect on a human level 100% of the time. No arguments—just two people laughing while sharing a brief moment of their lives with a total stranger. Kessler said the success of the project inspired them to think about other demographics that would benefit from connection: “We landed on two groups that research shows experience some of the highest levels of loneliness: younger adults and older adults. The purpose of these projects is to share the science of happiness and help people live emotionally and molecularly balanced lives.” She reiterated how dangerous chronic loneliness can be: “Loneliness has been linked to health risks comparable to smoking, excessive drinking, and lack of exercise. Positive social interactions can influence our biology in the opposite direction, lowering cortisol while increasing feel-good neurotransmitters like dopamine, cannabinoids, and oxytocin.” View this post on Instagram How it works For those wondering how the payphones work, they were bought on Facebook Marketplace. They were then deconstructed so modems with SIM cards could be placed inside, making it possible to make toll-free calls. While they’re waiting for the results (the phones were just recently installed), people in the comment section were already excited. At the mere mention of the idea, thousands chimed in to add their two cents. One wrote, “This is so great! Can we make pen pals cool again?” Another noted that although they don’t fall into either generation, they’d love to take part as well: “I’m not old. I’m not young. But if that phone were in my vicinity, I would be calling someone every day.” The post A new hopeful payphone project invites ‘Boomers’ and ‘Zoomers’ to connect one conversation at a time appeared first on Upworthy.